Department

Forest

Inventory

The main task of the department is to plan, carry out, and evaluate the Austrian Forest Inventory (ÖWI). The aim of this large-scale monitoring is to provide information about the condition and changes in the forest ecosystem and the resources of wood as a raw material. The ÖWI results serve as a basis for decision-making in forest and environmental policy and provide a rich database for a variety of scientific projects.

The ÖWI has been carried out at regular intervals since 1960. Since 2016, the extensive measurements and assessments of the ÖWI have been carried out annually on one-sixth of the sample areas. The current ÖWI evaluations cover the surveys for the years 2018-2023 (www.waldinventur.at).

The increasing integration of modern remote sensing technologies enables the creation of comprehensive thematic maps such as the Austria-wide forest map and the tree species mix map. In addition, satellite images are used to detect damage in the forest and to generate so-called anomaly maps.

The know-how is used for the participation in numerous international networks and projects. In the field of forest inventories, the institute plays a leading role in Europe in harmonizing forest information. In addition, the institute carries out Austria-wide wildlife impact monitoring (www.wildeinflussmonitoring.at).